


Med-Droid Inc.

by Adirah



Series: Writing Prompt Short Stories [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Original work - Freeform, Plain ridiculousness, Writing Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-05 00:06:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14604741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adirah/pseuds/Adirah
Summary: I was just scrolling through Reddit and found a writing prompt that gave me an idea. Was it a good idea? Probably not. It's probably pretty dumb, but I had fun writing it so I don't care. I'll link to the prompt. I didn't post it on Reddit because I didn't really care to, but I just had to post it here.Link to prompt:https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/8i6ji5/wp_everyone_is_given_a_personal_therapy_droid/?st=JH10LONM&sh=31314f51





	Med-Droid Inc.

     Val paced impatiently at her door, hoping that the mail-bot would make it to her floor already. Of course she couldn’t really blame the mail service for her needing a new therapy droid. No one could have guessed that all _ten_ of the previous bots would have just fried themselves. She had called Med-Droid customer service after the first self-destruct and they assured her it must have just been faulty wiring, promising to expedite shipping on a new unit. Unfortunately, expedited shipping still took about a week to arrive, especially with the sudden wave of people who began ordering Med-Droids two months after the global release.

  
     “It isn’t fair though!” She whined, “I ordered mine the day they came out so why am I having all this trouble? It’s been two and a half months since then and they still can’t figure out why they’re not working right?” Val leaned over the counter of her small kitchenette, reading over the letter that had been sent with her last droid. _Dear Miss Nieblum,_ it had started out, causing her to laugh at the formality. Like letters that came with her previous replacements, this one included promises that the new unit would work and that it had been tested extensively in the lab before being sent to her, but unlike the others, there was a small post script.

  
     With the last letter, one of the inventors had personally written in that he was designing a new bot that would hopefully be a fix to all their problems, or if not, a number to call if there was another malfunction. “I wonder what kind of wait I’ll get when I call the number,” she thought aloud as Soot, her kitty, jumped up for attention. Val laughed and scratched the furball behind the ears. “I hope you don’t think I’m just ordering broken toys for you, you lousy cat.” Soot just mewed, enjoying the scratching until a knock on the door sent him scurrying into the bedroom.

  
     The knock had also jolted Val upright as well, though instead of running away from the door, she scrambled towards it. The mail-bot was just hovering away with the rest of its deliveries when she swung her door open to a pile of junk mail and her brand-spanking-new Med-Droid. She almost couldn’t contain her excitement as she carried it all inside, tossing the mail aside and carefully, but of course impatiently, tearing into the shipment.

  
     If there was one thing about Med-Droid, it was that they really were dedicated to customer satisfaction. When she had ordered her first droid, she had chosen purple from their list of options, and despite the other problems with the last ten droids, they had all been the correct color. She took a good look at the unit, and despite being labelled as a Med-Droid V2, it was still the same shade of purple she had originally asked for.

  
     Other than the wording on the side, the only other visual difference this one had from the others was that it was slightly larger. While the original Med-Droid was probably about ten pounds, this one felt heavier. Perhaps closer to twelve pounds? Regardless, Val was happy, and all she had to do now, was boot it up. She held down the power control and set the box aside once the droid whirred to life. It hovered above her hands for a moment, while configuring, and then moved to the side to almost sing a greeting.

  
     “Good afternoon, Valerie Nieblum. I am Med-Droid Version Two. Would you care to begin your initial scan?” Val moved to the edge of her seat, nervous but ready to see the results of the new bot. “Well, eleventh time’s the charm I guess. Go ahead and scan me,” she responded to it. With her eyes closed, she waited for the scan, hoping she wouldn’t open her eyes to yet another wreck.

  
     Her fears were realized when, with a crash, the droid fell from the air. For a moment, she didn’t even want to open her eyes, knowing exactly what she’d see when she did. One irritated sigh later, and her eyes were open staring directly at the hunk of junk on the floor. The crash had initially spooked Soot, but he was inching closer to paw at the wreckage. Of course it wasn’t like it was in pieces but when it was the _eleventh_ droid to fry itself, everything about it seemed like a total wreck.

  
     Disappointed, Valerie grabbed her phone, dialing the number left on the letter. She expected a long wait time and automated voices but to her surprise, an actual human answered, “Yes? Hello? This is Dr. Rosen speaking.” It took her a second to get over her surprise but she quickly responded, “Hi, yes, this Valerie Nieblum. Ya’ll made a special Med-Droid for me and I just got it, but it fried again on the first scan.”

  
     “Oh! Yes, Miss Nieblum! Give me one second ¬¬– Jerry! I need to take this call! Don’t destroy the lab! – Alright sorry about that. My partner can get a little carried away in the lab,” the doctor responded, while shuffling to a quieter location, “Okay, now that I am in front of my computer, can you get your droid, and on the bottom there should be a little knob. Turn that and a compartment should open where you can remove a secondary memory drive. It should plug right into your computer like a flash drive. I’m sending you an email. Just attach whatever is on the drive to a reply and I’ll take a look at it.”

  
     Val tried to follow his instructions as he gave them but ended up a bit behind. “Alright almost got it,” she informed him, as she pulled the drive from the droid and plugged it into her computer. Just like a regular flash drive, a file popped up, but it wasn’t anything her computer could decipher. She attached it to her email response and sent it on to Dr. Rosen.

  
     She could hear a ding on the other end of the call indicating the email was received. “Looks good so far. I’m going to mute myself for just a bit as I go through what’s on here. It shouldn’t take too long, ten minutes tops,” he informed her. Val accepted the wait and switched her phone to speaker so she didn’t have to carry it around.

  
     Soot was pawing at what was left of the droid and Valerie smiled, thinking about the droid. She had been drawn to it initially because the startup noise always played in the advertisements had reminded her of a song, and though she could vaguely hear it playing in her mind, she couldn’t, for the life of her, remember the name of the song. It was from these thoughts that Dr. Rosen’s voice startled her from, when he returned to the call.

  
     “It seems like it’s only an audio file. I’ve converted it to a more universal file type and sent it back to you. I wish I had some sort of answer for you, but I am stumped. I don’t see why this – and you’ll see, or hear rather, what I’m talking about – would fry our state of the art droids, but I’m going to be a bit less than professional here for a moment to easily sum up my reaction. What the fuck?” Valerie stifled a laugh at the doctor’s response as she opened the email. _‘Here goes nothing,’_ she thought, double clicking the file. What she heard surprised her, partially with its familiarity, and partially with its ridiculousness. A voice blaring from her speakers could be heard,

 

_”If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe_

 

_I'd been married a long time ago_

 

_Where did you come from, where did you go?_

 

_Where did you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?...”_


End file.
